Friday, August 30, 2013

Weekly Confessions

  • You know you visit your favorite hibachi restaurant a little too frequently when the Japanese waitresses greet your children by name, order your "usual" food for you without you having to tell them what you want, and your youngest child runs up to hug our favorite waitress, Tinky.
  • The biggest intersection near my office is sucking the life out of me. It doesn't matter which direction I'm coming from, but I get stuck at a red light every single time I drive through it. And it's a long light cycle, like 5 minutes coming from one direction. The worst part, the light is cycled so shortly coming from my direction that only 5 cars can make it through  before it turns red again. It.Kills.Me.
  • I pay the bills in our house, and somehow the water bill completely slipped by me this month. When I realized that it had gotten lost in the shuffle, the bill was 10 days late. It's a wonder our water was still turned on.
  • My cellphone battery bit the dust. Or my phone has bit the dust. The phone won't charge, even though the battery is showing that it is charging. Is that completely confusing? I've bought a replacement battery for $7 before shelling out $100 on a new phone, but apparently I opted for horse and buggy delivery method because the battery isn't scheduled to arrive until September 10th. It's a smart phone intervention, completely against my will. I don't know how I will handle it.
  • I'm beyond stuck on level 125 of Candy Crush. I'm almost willing to pay someone to pass the level for me. Either that, or I need to quit because I never knew candy could hurt this bad.

Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Prayers for Katie

 
Please be in urgent prayer for this beautiful baby, Katie. She's the 4 month old granddaughter of my neighbor, and the daughter of one of my high school band friends, Joe. She was found at daycare yesterday not breathing and airlifted from our local ER to Children's Hospital in Birmingham. As of now they are saying near SIDS. She looks good and is holding her blood pressure and temp on her own. She is taking some breaths on her own also. She is still on a ventilator and unconscious, but she has very little brain activity right now.
 
Please pray for God's healing hands to cover this precious child, and to give comfort to his Mom and Dad (Tara and Joe), her big sister, Anniston, her grandparents and extended family. 

Update: Baby Katie passed away today, 8/28/13. Please pray that God blesses her family with a peace that passes all understanding in the midst of a heartbreaking situation.



 


Monday, August 26, 2013

The Weekend In Review

  • I took Jackson to a water park in Birmingham on Saturday. We had a great time, just the two of us, and ran into some friends that made the day even nicer once we got there. Our boys had so much fun playing together, and my friend and I were able to talk while the kids played. Super fun day!
  • We have a pile of laundry that could rival Mt. Everest that needs to be folded. How four people can make that much dirty laundry is beyond me!
  • Jackson and Anderson have bunk beds now! We've moved the beds into Anderson's room, and sadly, his toddler bed has been unassembled. He did great sleeping on the bottom bunk last night, and Jackson loved sleeping on the top bunk. We are planning on turning Jackson's room into a play room, and having the boys share a room. It's a work in progress for sure!

Friday, August 23, 2013

Random Friday

  • 19 days until Disney, not that I'm counting or anything ! ;) I'm not great at keeping secrets, but I'm so proud of myself for not spilling the beans to Jackson. He has no clue about the Disney trip, and it's going to be such an amazing surprise!
  • I'm taking Jackson to a water park tomorrow to celebrate his first week of second grade. So excited!
  • Heading to the lake next weekend for Labor Day, and I'm also super excited about that. I love being on the lake with my family, and the boys will have a blast on our friends new pontoon boat.
  • I just realized that we only have 1 free weekend between now and Disney. Remember the "I'm too excited to sleep" Disney commercial from a few years ago? Yup. That's me, and we have 19 days to go!


Have a great day and a wonderful weekend!

Wednesday, August 21, 2013

Second Grade Success!

Three days in, and second grade has been a success so far. Jackson has loved his teacher, the reading dugout, making new friends, and his classroom. The only thing he hasn't liked? The fact that I made him wear a polo shirt for the first two days! Here are a few pictures of his classroom and our second grader. Enjoy!
 












 
It's gonna be a great year!

Monday, August 19, 2013

First Day of Second Grade!

Jackson starts second grade today, and we are so excited. He’s going to do amazing, and we absolutely love his teacher. She was our first choice for this year, so that makes this mama happy, happy, happy.  I asked Jackson the same interview questions that I did for first grade, and at the end of the year I'll ask him the same questions and see how he changes over the year.

What is your favorite subject in school? PE.

What is your favorite thing to eat for school lunch? Macaroni and cheese.

What did you like about Mrs. Hurst's classroom? I like it a lot because it has a dugout where we read with all the major league baseball team stuff. We also have a gecko that we get to name.

What is going to be the best thing about second grade? Cause I'm in 2nd grade we are the oldest kids in the school. And I'll be the only 2nd grader at daycare.

What do you think about having homework? I don't like it.

What is your favorite color? Blue and orange.

Are you nervous about school? Yes.

What are you nervous about? I don't want there to be any bully's.

How many friends do you think you will have? Everybody in my class.

How many girlfriends? (Insert blank stare.) NONE.

I can’t wait to hear about his first day!!! I’m so nervous for him, but he will do wonderful. Wish him luck!

Wednesday, August 14, 2013

Dear Jackson,

 
Dear Jackson,
 
Happy 7th Birthday to my favorite big boy! It's been a whirlwind it seems that has somehow fast-forwarded time seven years already. How is that even possible? One minute you were a 8lb. 4oz. teeny little baby with a head full of black hair, and here you are now, weighing in at 51.5 pounds, missing 2 bottom teeth and have gotten so tall that you seem like you are nothing but legs, growing gangly and tall.
 
Jackson, I can't even put into words how proud I am of you. You are an amazing son and brother, and you lighten my life in ways I didn't know were going to be possible seven years ago. You are kind, compassionate, sensitive and so loving. You have the funniest sense of humor and you are able to reason in ways that sometimes I wish weren't possible, like when you try to talk me into letting you stay up past your bedtime! You, my sweet child, love your Lord with such a sweet, childlike faith, and I have been thrilled to watch you grow in your relationship with your Heavenly Father.
 
We have something that we tell each other all the time: One of us will say, "love you" and the response is always, "love you more" and the response to that is, "love you most" and the response to that is, "not possible."
 
Jackson, it's not possible for me to love you more than I already do. You and your brother have my heart in the way that only a mother can love her children. There is nothing in the world that I wouldn't do for you, from swimming the deepest oceans, to crossing the hottest desert. I will always love you to the moon and back a million times through.
 
Love always,
Mom
 
 

Monday, August 12, 2013

Snuggle Time...Or Not.

Sunday afternoon I laid down in the bed with Anderson to take a nap. He had fallen asleep for a few minutes in the car on the way home from church and woke up as soon as I got him out of his car seat. I had hoped that he would doze back off, so we laid down together in my bed.

Anderson cuddled up to me, and I thought he was about to fall asleep when he flipped over and snuggled right up to me, so close that our noses were touching. We sat there like that for a minute when he reached his precious, chubby little hand up and started softly rubbing my check. He kissed me on the tip of my nose and said, "lu lou" which is Andersonese for "love you." It was such a sweet moment, and I was filled with sheer wonder about how much I love my boys. I was sitting there thinking about how quickly they grow up, getting all sentimental and sappy on the inside, and y'all, I swear that my ovaries were twitching with the thought of possibly having another baby just so I could experience this moment again.

And just like that, sweet moment over, Anderson flipped back over, sat up and shook his hands at me (baby sign for "all done", indicating that in his opinion, nap time was over. I wrestled with him for the next hour trying to make him understand that nap time was not over, but eventually I lost the battle.

I got up out of the bed, beyond sad that my chance to take a Sunday nap was long gone. Before I made it to the kitchen to get Anderson a snack the tick-tick-tick sound of my biological clock was long gone, and I was left with the sound of two rambunctious boys squealing with excitement that nap time was once again over.

It's a crazy life, but I wouldn't trade it for anything. Even a long Sunday nap.

Tuesday, August 06, 2013

Live From Jacksonville

Jackson has gotten to the age where he seems to be like a real person, instead of a little kid, and he has said some of the funniest stuff lately. Here are a few of my favorites:

After getting behind a chicken truck...

Jackson: "Daddy, where are they going with those chickens?"
Jeremy: "The farmer is sending them to the chicken factory where they make them into chicken that you eat."
Jackson: (In horror) "Why in the world would any farmer do that to their pets?"

On his future career of choice...

Jackson: "I've pretty much decided that I'm going to be a Prattville Police Officer when I grow up. I think I can handle it."

On Shark Week...

Jackson: "Shark Week is definitely not a good time to be at the beach!"

On Anderson's lack of potty training...

Jackson: "I have no idea what y'all are going to do to ever get Anderson to quit using diapers."

On his upcoming birthday....

Jackson: "Wellllllll, aren't you going to wish me a Happy Birthday?"
Me: "It's not your birthday."
Jackson: "How about we just make today my birthday and let me be 7 already!"

That big boy of mine is an absolute mess, and I treasure him more than words could ever describe!




Monday, August 05, 2013

I've Never (Round 2)

  • I've never gone sky diving, bungee jumping or parasailing. (Not sure that I ever will do these. Too many horror stories recently to put it on my bucket list.)
  • I've never made an official bucket list. (Probably something I need to do.)
  • I've never eaten sushi. (Have no desire to try it.)
  • I've never swam in the Alabama river. (Lived here my whole life and to my knowledge I've never put a toe in the Alabama river.)
  • I've never had anything other than my ears pierced. (Well, I had my upper ear cartilage pierced in high school, but that's still ear related.)
  • I've never purchased a purse that was over $30. (And I never will.)
  • I've never owned a pair of shoes that was over $100. (They were my Timberlands that I got when I was in 7th grade. I still have them, and they still fit. So my parents have almost 21 years into that investment.)
  • I've never eaten rhubarb, Dijon Mustard, or cauliflower. (Don't really know what rhubarb is, hate mustard of all varieties, and I would much rather stick with broccoli than attempt cauliflower.)
  • I've never been deep sea fishing. (Definitely something I want to do when the boys get a little bigger.)
  • I've never done a back dive into a swimming pool. (I've taught so many people how to do back dives into the pool, but I can't do one myself. I'm deathly afraid of hitting my head on the diving board and drowning. Although logically, I know I can't hit my head doing a back dive, but I still can't/won't do it.)
Anything else you've never done?
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